Why are Ukrainian private companies not involved in the construction of fortifications? One reason is bureaucracy, and another may be basic fear.
A military engineer speaks.
There has been a lot of talk lately about fortification for defense. The publication Texty.org.ua talked about them with a specialist - a military engineer who, in his words, has been “digging” in the war since 2022. The publication’s interlocutor serves in the State Special Transport Service (GSST). This is a military formation that reports directly to the Ministry of Defense. Now his main task is to dig the defensive lines. At his request, his name is not included in the publication.
Didn't know how to dig
I started working on fortifications in July 2022. Back then, however, we carried out these fortification works for the defense forces of our city and region. First they made a perimeter defense of our city, then a perimeter defense of the entire region. When the Russians fled from the right bank of the Dnieper in November 2022, we walked along the river through the liberated territories towards Kherson. And in the summer they were already working around Kherson, creating fortifications.
Now we are working very hard in the Zaporozhye direction. When this all started in 2022, we did not have any fortification projects, we had nothing at all regarding fortifications.
It got to the point that when it was necessary to dig the first anti-tank ditches, they couldn’t even find any applied information about it. Everything that was found was the way the Soviets dug near Moscow during World War II, or the Germans dug like that.
There were no rules, nothing. But when in the middle of summer 2022 we received the first fire structures - concrete bunkers, they also sent projects with them. As it turns out, we have had these projects since 2015; they were developed by specialists at the Ministry of Defense. We were given all the documentation; today this project has been finalized taking into account the experience of recent military operations.
When all this began, each community tried to dig itself in. In 2022, something was dug up with the support of communities and the defense forces of different cities. Special equipment was allocated for this: excavators, dump trucks. All this was provided to the military.
I started working on fortifications in July 2022. Back then, however, we carried out these fortification works for the defense forces of our city and region. First they made a perimeter defense of our city, then a perimeter defense of the entire region. When the Russians fled from the right bank of the Dnieper in November 2022, we walked along the river through the liberated territories towards Kherson. And in the summer they were already working around Kherson, creating fortifications.
Now we are working very hard in the Zaporozhye direction. When this all started in 2022, we did not have any fortification projects, we had nothing at all regarding fortifications.
It got to the point that when it was necessary to dig the first anti-tank ditches, they couldn’t even find any applied information about it. Everything that was found was the way the Soviets dug near Moscow during World War II, or the Germans dug like that.
There were no rules, nothing. But when in the middle of summer 2022 we received the first fire structures - concrete bunkers, they also sent projects with them. As it turns out, we have had these projects since 2015; they were developed by specialists at the Ministry of Defense. We were given all the documentation; today this project has been finalized taking into account the experience of recent military operations.
When all this began, each community tried to dig itself in. In 2022, something was dug up with the support of communities and the defense forces of different cities. Special equipment was allocated for this: excavators, dump trucks. All this was provided to the military.
— As I understand it, it’s difficult to work with equipment on the front line?
Yes, sure. I have already said that we received new earth-moving equipment. Today there is not a single whole glass in this technique. We also have wounded and shell-shocked. We weld additional protection onto the equipment, but the risk remains. At the distance at which we operate, FPV drones and any field artillery can reach us.
Private companies: they dig for Russians, they are afraid of us
— What should this look like ideally?
I don’t know how it would be ideally, but you can see how our enemies have it now. When the Russians were still storming Avdeevka, there was a railway embankment in front of the coking plant. While they were storming this embankment, behind them, at a distance of 8 kilometers, the fortification was being done by a Rostov construction company, which is building roads in their region.
That is, the battles had not yet ended, and civilian private companies were already building protective structures for them in case they failed and they needed to roll back. As soon as they crossed this embankment and went directly to the coking plant, their engineering troops were already digging a defense line behind the embankment. And the distance to our troops from their engineering troops was only 2 kilometers.
This is how it should be for us. The engineering troops should follow the assault units, we should follow them and also dig fortifications, and then civilian companies should follow us and build at a greater distance in safer conditions and not be in as much of a hurry as we are.
— Do we even have a practice of attracting private companies?
I haven't encountered anything like this. It was only in 2022 that individual communities negotiated with private companies and rented equipment from them. I have not heard anything else about any participation of private construction structures in the construction of defensive structures.
— Is the problem in certain bureaucratic procedures?
Well, yes, of course, they need to go through a tender. But not only that. For example, immediately after the liberation of Kherson, we were given the task of restoring storage facilities there. I asked local administrations: why, in fact, don’t private structures do this?
To which I was told that, firstly, these are tenders (many companies do not want to participate in a state tender, because it involves a lot of work with documents, this often requires specialists, who are in short supply, and the result is not guaranteed. - Ed) , and secondly, private structures simply do not want to do this.
Or another example: in 2022, I made a second line of defense quite far from the enemy - 15 kilometers. Our excavator, which was still under warranty, broke down. So the service department refused to come to us to repair it. This is a more general problem.
I know some companies and industries that have the opportunity to work for the defense industry, but are afraid to do so. They are afraid that someone will give up their coordinates, that someone will fly in after their production. And such cases do happen.
— In general, can fortifications somehow protect against KABs?
CABs are a scary thing. Especially one and a half ton ones, nothing helps against them. They destroy everything. Obviously, KABs must be dealt with in other ways, not engineering.
Timing is everything
— What else should be done now to increase our defense capability?
It would be worthwhile now to make an audit of all those defensive structures that have been built in recent years, where they need to be completed, equipped, strengthened with wood, drainage systems made - this would definitely make sense. If a trench is dug in the ground and it is not reinforced with anything, then after three months it will crumble and cease to be a full-fledged trench.
— Does it make sense to somehow reconstruct positions that were dug deep in the rear, around Kyiv, for example?
Well, if from time to time we are frightened by the fact that another offensive from Belarus is coming soon, then what is easier - to carry out an audit and retrofit the fortifications or to build a new one?
— Does it make sense and do we have the ability to make an analogue of the “Surovikin Line” that stopped our offensive?
Now there is no continuous line as such, everyone is digging GPs - platoon strong points. That is, the platoon occupies a certain section of the front, this is about half a kilometer, where certain defensive structures are built: dugouts, loopholes, if necessary, caponiers, then there is a gap, and then the next strong point. And so the front closes. Of course, things like an anti-tank ditch are dug in a continuous line; there are no breaks in it.
— How realistic and expedient is it now for us to build such multi-level defensive structures as, for example, were on the Maginot Line?
I don’t know if we can handle this economically. And even if we pull through, we find a lot, a lot of money for this, then here we run into another problem - the timing of the construction of such structures. We are now in a period when timing is everything.
There are real deadlines even for preparing concrete, which, for example, gains 60% of its strength in 28 days. So you poured concrete into a special form, and only after 28 days it will gain its strength, close to the design one. Therefore, no matter how much money you have, as our builders say, you can’t cheat the work.
The main thing is effective equipment repair
Journalists also spoke with officer Evgeniy K., who until recently worked in the engineering unit
At one time I worked in the engineering department. We had two excavators, that is, we really had equipment. Everyone was very worried about them - suddenly one would break, or something would fly in - and the work would stop, or would go much more slowly, until they repaired it. This really is a problem.
Regarding who is digging closer to the contact line - unfortunately, the Russians are digging closer. I myself saw them digging about four kilometers from the line. As for ours, I didn’t see them coming closer than 8 kilometers. But there are quite logical explanations for this.
Firstly, they have an advantage in aerial reconnaissance - up to a dozen Orlans are constantly hanging in the sky. In short, they see everything. Secondly, they have an advantage in artillery shells. And they certainly won’t spare a dozen shells for some tractor. And we have a shortage of shells, as always, and they know that we won’t waste shells to overwhelm this unfortunate tractor. They can afford it, but we can’t.
The main issue is to ensure that the equipment is repaired effectively, that spare parts are available, and that it is possible to quickly exchange a broken excavator for a working one. Now people are really afraid for the equipment, because then they don’t know how long to wait for a new one, how to get it, how to write it off. That’s why they don’t send her very close to the enemy. Technology is now very valuable.
